Hi there faithful readers. This year has been full of stress and hindrances. The latest is the death of my grandfather, Manuel Rito. He's sorely missed by my whole family, and I had to spend the previous week attending the funeral and going through some of the belongings he left behind. That process and mourning continues, but at the same time, it makes me realize how good I've got it right now, and What I want to leave behind. Hopefully the initial pages of Skyborne will be completed within the next month, and I'll finally have something to show for myself from this year. Thanks for reading, everybody. And thanks for your continued patience.

April 3, 2013, 18:48 EST

A short list of delays

Posted by Plotholetsi

It's hard to describe why comics haven't been getting done. There have been a few things going on in my life. My husband and I are starting the precarious process of trying to find a house to buy. Since we're not rich, we're not even middle-class, really, this is a tough scenario in the Seattle area.

Secondly, the overtime at work cranked up rather suddenly, and I'm just plain tired.

Also, I've been away from comic work for so long I'm having a little trouble figuring out where to get started.

And lastly, getting Skyborne off the ground (sorry for the accidental bad pun) has taken longer than I expected. Something about designing magically-powered SkyKraft seems to be delaying every page. I'm not a good engineer, so blame my stupid brain for wanting to write and draw a story that involves so many crazy vessels and inventions.

Summary? I'm officially or unofficially on Hiatus, everybody. But when I come back in a few weeks, it will be to show you the first ten pages of Skyborne, and start into Aspect Chapter 5.

March 7, 2013, 06:43 EST

Don't Mind Our Dust...

Posted by Plotholetsi

Apologies again, everybody. Between being obsessed about Skyborne, and doing a drawing for my husband I've owed him for a VERY long time, and work, and Emerald City Comic Con this past weekend, I just had no time to get any more work done on Aspect. Thanks for checking in, and sorry I don't even have any fun filler material to show you.

So, here's a quick post to apologize to any of you the subscribed to the RSS feed with that promise of daily updates. Turns out that one of Eni's features conflicted with one of his new features. He so kindly coded an auto-RSS feature for us, but it seems that FeedBurner didn't like it in conjunction with the image-cloaking feature he previously coded. So that's turned off now. If you feel like it, go ahead and try to guess my future updates :P

June 15, 2012, 05:32 EST

The next 60 days

Posted by Plotholetsi

The plan for the next 60 days is to double my workload, and not go crazy. I've now got two graphic novels to finish, since Aspect Book 1 has been funded, as well as Jikoshia Book 1. Hey! No worries, guys! This means updates will HAVE to get better here on the site :)

May 3, 2012, 19:38 EST

What's that on the horizon? Is it something... in paper?

Posted by Plotholetsi

Keep a watch on the main page and all our social media sites (check the link icons along the top edge). I'll be announcing the IndieGoGo funding campaign soon. Wish me luck! (And get in there for a chance to own a copy of Aspect with additional goodies!

March 7, 2012, 21:45 EST

100 pages! OMG!

Posted by Plotholetsi

So today makes the 100th page of Aspect to be finished! Isn't that awesome? We're about 27 pages away from completing Book 1!

Unfortunately I've been too busy MAKING the comic to do anything special to mark page #100. If anyone out there wants to make some fanart, I'd LOVE to feature it. That's the last bit of whining you'll hear from me :)

February 8, 2012, 19:10 EST

Unfortunate One

Posted by Plotholetsi

So, I am sad to announce the last double-weekly update today. For the duration of Chapter 4, I'll be posting one page a week. Not because I'll only get one done, but because I know that a few months down the line, I'll have Chapter 4 completed and I'll need to switch gears to cranking out backlogged pages of Jikoshia as well as prepping Aspect Book 1 for print. Me and Em have been charging into this year with our sites set on the goal of publishing both our first books in September. For me, that means keeping a strict deadline on two separate books. And with the way publishing goes, even self-publishing the books, even with on-demand printing, we'll need to have all the files done and ready to go about 40-50 days before the Con, in early September.

So, to keep you all entertained this year without horrendous month+ hiatuses, I've decided to post a single page of Aspect each week. I'll try my best to post sketches, vote incentives, and teasers on Facebook.

February 6, 2012, 18:50 EST

An average update

Posted by Plotholetsi

I finished an obnoxiously long work week (56 hours is no fun), and I'm so glad I pushed to get ahead on pages the week before, because it means I had SOMETHING to show you all this past week. I apologize for the unfinished quality of these pages, but Em and I are really gung-ho to keep things moving, and I'd rather have lame updates than no updates. That being said, I finished thumbnails and planning for Chapter 4 during my lunches this past week, and that is good to go very soon!

I'll actually be hitting my 100th page soon! Isn't that awesome? If ever I was hinting for fanart, this is a hint. I would love you, show your work on the main site and did I mention love you forever? :3

December 4, 2011, 22:54 EST

Not Dead!

Posted by Plotholetsi

I know I use the "I'm Dead" avatar a little too often, but that seems to have been my state of being for the last 6 months. I took a look, and my last comic page update was in JULY. Yikes! No wonder I feel like I haven't gotten anything done! But I should remind you (and myself) that I completed all the coloring on Jikoshia Chapter 1 in a single month, fixed and prepared everything to print Aspect Chapters 1 and 2 (which included shading 10 pages that had been lost in archiving) And also COMPLETED the 30 characters challenge this year! Creating a plethora of new characters for my side project, which I'm officially announcing the title of: Issendoth: Reclaiming Himmerd

I have another story I'm considering working on as well, but that will depend on how much my wits get frayed by this holiday season. Being a print monkey does mean that I will have less and less to do as Christmas and New Years approaches, though, so expect some more regular updates from me in the near future.

Thanks again for being here to read this. The idea that people appreciate my work gives me a warm little spot in that lump of coal that serves as my heart :)

August 20, 2011, 16:57 EST

Presale Details

Posted by Plotholetsi

Getting the printed proof sample from Ka-Blam has taken MUCH longer than anticipated. Even after my PayPal payment went through, it took 12 days before it even shipped, and that takes another 3. So I'm looking at POSSIBLY having it in hand today, and at worst, Monday, which means it has taken TWICE as long as advertised on their site for the print.

The downside of this is that I have decided NOT to get a print edition done in time for SPX on the east coast. I'm very sorry for this, but I will be starting preorders for Vol 1 as soon as I can work out the best way to add a Paypal button. The preorders will go on from the point the link start on the Aspect homepage until Sept 10th or 15th. At that point, I'll place the first order through Ka-Blam, and set it for their standard turnaround of 28 days. At that point, they'll ship to me, and I sign and doodle however people request on their order. Then they'll ship out to all you lucky customers. After Sept 10th or 15th (I'll see what date looks good after I finally receive my first print...) no more signed copies will be available outside of Conventions and appearances.

On that note. I'm looking in to making some Convention appearances in the next year. With this published copy of the first two chapters, and my big push to help Em finish Chapter 1 of her copy, I've really decided that comics are what I want to do. I want to make some plans for the progression of the comic, and start producing some merchandise that people actually want to see. Most of all, I want to try and explore ways to get the comic out there, and get more people reading it. That's the most important thing, after all.

July 15, 2011, 17:43 EST

A bit more news

Posted by Plotholetsi

1. Look at all those updates! wowiie!

2. All those updates will likely slow to a halt again in the near future.

3. *dodges tomatoes being thrown at her* argh! Hey, stop! I get plenty of vitamin C on my own!!

4. My partner in crime Almighty M sent me a proposition to finish the remake of chapter 1 of her comic in the next month! That means a PAGE a DAY for a month! She's even offering to pay me for my shading time, AND it means we'll finally have completed something that goes to print! Neat, huh?

So long story short, Small Press Expo out in Maryland offered M a table that had been declined last minute. She's getting some of her buds together on that table, I'm helping them arrange to get a booth banner printed, and we're trying to round up swag! For those who are excited at the prospect of seeing both of us, I'm sorry, but I live in Seattle, and my husband is once again out of a job.

No pity. No pity. Calm down. We're doing okay, that's what unemployment's for. But for now it means I can chip in free time, but not the kinda cash it would take to go meet up with my cohort on the east coast. So if you're in the area over there, go check out the Square City Comics Booth at SPX! Wayward Studios will make a small showing, and there might be little freebies from us like when we gave out postcards last year.

April 16, 2011, 18:05 EST

Recent Events...

Posted by Plotholetsi

So I guess everyone deserves a little explanation of the events of the past few months. This is partially a summary for myself as well. We began the year with several deaths in my friends' family. Christmas was hectic because my husband's contract start-date kept getting moved back, and money is always tight on unemployment. We went through January and Febrtuary hesitantly, and around the end of February, his car died. Either the crankshaft broke or the pistons bent, but the dealership said it would cost another thousand dollars just to break the engine open to see what the problem was, and Saturn claimed that their recall only covered replacing the engine ONCE, so we were borked.

Another came our friend Nick, who offered to sell us his dad's old car. I tried selling some stocks I've had for ten years (literally long before I was legal age to actually SELL them!) and after two weeks banging my head against the wall with PG&E, realized that it wouldn't happen soon. Nick was nice enough to strike a payment deal with us, and then I found out that my friend (same one whose family had been dying off) owed 500 bucks to her ex-mother-in-law in Missourri, who was threatening to toss her stuff out. I set off on a whirlwind of frustrating phone calls with the dragon-lady (not a chinese slur, this lady was just a bitch) which culminated in a week-long road trip to there and back, a three hour phone argument with U-Haul, 2k in lost money, and lots and lots of frustration.

When I got back, work jostled between insanely busy and dead-slow. I still didn't have chapter 3 entirely ready to update, and when I finally get the color cover up, I get assaulted by comments asking if the entire comic will be in color from now on. To which I go, "Huh? I don't have time for that!"

And then AlmightyM says exactly what I've been thinking sarcastically for a long time, "Man, your coloring is GOOD Tsi! We should team up!"

"Haha!" I respond. "Right, I barely have time for my own comic! I can't color both of ours! You'd have to do all the flatting or something!"

"Really? I love flatting!" She types back.

"..." My brain spins. "I hate flatting..." I type back hesitantly.

"I always have trouble with the shading-" She says, as if reading my mind.

"I love shading..." I respond, as if reading hers.

And after a few test-pages, a wonderful partnership is born! Unfortunately I'm down to 1-page-a-week. But man, they're shiny pages!

And while this is happening, I spend a month back and forth trying to get a credit-union account set up, move from one apartment to another, while moving my friend Tech OUT, accidentally stumble into a new job (That I start Monday! Hooray!), deal with the bullshit of the job I'm leaving, etc. etc.

Now, as life is finally settling down, I'm looking around and not feeling too bad. Hopefully my roomie will be getting into college, maybe something better will come along for my husband too, and even our cat is finally chilling out in the new apartment. Did I mention it has a bigger porch? And growing season is just starting :3

February 21, 2011, 09:25 EST

Life Hates me

Posted by Plotholetsi

My life in the past two weeks has just been a huge series of , "Really? Something ELSE Has to get done in the next month?"
life has been busy to say the least. I'm sorry the updates of Aspect have gone so haywire, but I have a lot of things I need to get back in order. Luckily, one of those things fell in line today when We finally located a decent apartment. Next weekend I'm helping my parents move their storefront, and two weeks after that I'll be driving to Illinois to help my friend get her stuff before it's destroyed. A week after that? I have to move my OWN stuff into the new apartment! Life isn't slowing down until April. Here's hoping I don't explode in the meantime.

Aspect is hosted by Wayward Studios, a partnership between 'AlmightyM' and 'Plothole Tsi'. Use of "Aspect" pages, artwork, or content without express permission of the author, Plothole Tsi (Crystal M Rollins) is strictly forbidden by International copyright and Creative Commons laws.